For a variety of reasons, many people have difficulty getting into and out a conventional bed. For example, it is not uncommon for elderly persons to use an apparatus commonly referred to as a "walker" to move from one room of the house to another. When the person desires to get into a conventional bed, the person typically positions the "walker" adjacent to the bed and attempts to place themselves onto the bed by using the walker as a support. Quite often, however, the walker will move when the person applies their weight to the walker thus making the process of getting into bed difficult and dangerous.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,200 discloses a support apparatus which is mounted to the bottom surface of rails 13 and 14 of a conventional bed frame 10 by a plate 20, clip members 28, and screws 26. The apparatus further employs a tubular member 22 connected to and positioned adjacent to plate 20 and which is adapted to receive a variety of support tubes.
While providing some degree of support to a person getting into and out of bed, apparatus of the type disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,200 have several drawbacks. First, such support apparatus might not support even moderate loads without bending thereby failing to provide a solid support for persons getting into and out of bed. Furthermore, the support apparatus has numerous components which makes it cumbersome to mount to the bed frame insomuch as it fastens to the bottom surface of two bed rails and secured by multiple clamps and screws.